Taming a Troubled Land
by Bigsisnat533
Summary: Shay wishes for freedom- and gets exactly that. He doesn't even think twice about the people he switches with. So what happens when mistakes are made and the story starts writing the author instead?
1. Chapter 1

_Images flickered in his mind. Images of another life. Images of another world. Another world where he was free, where he could do whatever. Images of a girl, a young girl who seemed so free._

The dream faded and Shay woke up. The computer next to him was still sleeping, so he knew that it wasn't yet morning. So he just lay there, savoring the freedom of his dreams and remembering that girl.

She was able to do what she pleased, while he was trapped in the childish daydream that the computer had been creating for him. All he wanted was freedom; he wanted what the girl had.

 _'I wish I could switch lives with her, just to see what it's like,'_ Shay thought. _'It's too bad she was only a dream.'_

And on that thought, he went back to sleep, craving the freedom of his dreams once more.

 _Crash!_ Shay woke with a start and looked around wildly. What was that?

"Shay? Are you alright?" The ship's "mother" computer appeared in place of the one that was already there at his bedside.

"I'm fine, computer," Shay said. "What was that?"

"I... don't know," she said. "But your father and I are working on it. Don't worry, sweetie."

She lingered for a little while just to make sure the boy was alright before she and the other computer disappeared from the console, leaving Shay alone. She locked his door so she'd know where he was, though.

Shay lay there again. All thoughts of his previous dream left his mind and all he could concentrate on was that noise. It wasn't normal, and that both scared and intrigued him. Nothing abnormal ever happened on the ship.

A small creature stood up and unhooked himself from the small machine. Where was he? It didn't look like his restaurant. It didn't even look like _anything_ in his underwater home. It felt... weird- there was no water. The creature began to panic and ran around in circles, eventually hitting his head on his machine. It didn't hurt.

He felt around his head. It was covered with a helmet- a helmet full of water. He sighed in relief. What happened? Maybe he'd accidentally pressed the button on the teleporter instead...

The creature, Plankton, looked around. It appeared that he was in a giant... bedroom. Well, maybe not giant, but it was quite big compared to himself. He could hear something breathing in the bed just above his head. He clutched at the sheet and pulled himself up onto the bed. There slept the strangest creature he'd ever seen. It was huge and definitely not a fish. It didn't have a helmet, either- it breathed air. And it was awake, but seemed... inactive. It was just staring into the distance. Plankton climbed on the creature's nose.

"Hello? Hola? Kwarf?" Plankton said, not sure what language the creature spoke or if it even spoke at all.

"Huh?" The creature looked at Plankton, who was standing on its nose. "Who are you? _What_ are you? How did you get in here?"

"I am Sheldon J. Plankton," Plankton said. "Where exactly _is_ here?"

Shay picked the tiny creature up off of his nose, sat up, and set plankton back down on his knee. "You're in my bedroom, on the spaceship Bassinostra. How did you get in here without the computer catching you?"

"I don't know," Plankton replied. "One minute I was in my lab, the next I was in here. I must have pressed the button on my teleporter instead of the one on my 'Switch-Lives-Just-to-Know-What-It's-Like-o-Mogrifier' thing."

"Switch-Lives-Just-to-Know-What-It's-Like-o-Mogrifier?" Shay asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, it's right down there. I was going to use it to switch places with my enemy so I could see what it's like to be successful... And to eat real food and not just the holographic meatloaf that ,y computer wife makes."

"Holographic meatloaf...? Never mind. Where is this 'Switch-Lives-Just-to-Know-What-It's-Like-o-Mogrifier' thing? Can I use it?" Shay asked.

"I don't see why not," Plankton said. "It's right down here." He jumped down from the bed and stood by his machine.

Shay got out of bed and sat on the floor, looking at Plankton's machine. "It's so... tiny."

"Well, it was made for me, so..."

"If only we could make it bigger somehow..." Shay said, looking at the machine.

"Well, we could always use my Unshrink Ray," Plankton said, pulling something out of his tiny pocket. He shot his other machine with it and the machine grew until it was big enough for Shay to use.

"Now," said Plankton. "I'll let you use it... On one condition- you allow me to explore your home for miscellaneous parts to make a teleporter and get me back home (and possibly steal the Krabby Patty secret formula in the process)."

"Deal," Shay said, not hearing the part about stealing the formula.

Plankton helped Shay hook himself up to the "Switch-Lives-Just-to-Know-What-It's-Like-o-Mogrifier". He then started flicking through silhouette images of people, stopping only when Shay saw a girl who looked similar to the one in his dream.

"Where does she live? Can you find that out?" Shay asked.

"Sure, kid," Plankton said. He went over to a panel on the side of the machine. "I can't find the name, but it looks something like this." He held up a picture of the girl's world- a small town surrounded by hills on one side and beautiful fields on the other.

"I'd like to switch with her," Shay told Plankton.

"You sure? I mean... I can't guarantee that you'll still be a boy after you switch..." Plankton said.

"I don't care," Shay said. "Anything to get away from this fake reality. Oh, and you might want to shrink the machine again after. Almost nothing slips past the ship's computer. She probably would've caught us had she not been distracted by a... something."

"Yeah, I get the feeling," Plankton said. "My wife's a computer. I'll also leave the machine here in case you switch back after I leave. Wouldn't want you switching back at the bottom of the ocean or anything."

Plankton told the boy everything he needed to know about the machine. He told him how to switch back and what things could happen. And then he activated it.


	2. Chapter 2

Shay woke up to bright sunshine and a light breeze. He looked around. A young girl was looking for something and yelling the name "Sasha". Shay looked down at himself. He was not a he anymore. She started freaking out, but then remembered what Plankton had said- there was no guarantee that he'd still be a boy since he was switching with a girl.

She calmed down and stood up. She saw branches and leaves and the sun and the sky above him. And it was beautiful. He walked down towards the town- it was the same one that was in the picture that Plankton had showed him. The young girl ran towards her.

"Sasha! I finally found you! Everyone was getting worried that you ran away or something," the girl said.

"I... _I'm_ Sasha?" She noticed the look on the other girl's face. "Sorry... I, uh, had a... A weird dream."

"Oh," the girl said. She started pulling on "Sasha"'s hand. "Well come on! Levina's getting impatient!"

"O-okay…" Sasha said, following the girl.

At this point, Sasha was so confused that she didn't even try to understand. She just did what the other girl told her to and that was that. It was clearly going to be a long day.

* * *

Vella's mind left sleep- and instantly she knew something wasn't right. She had dozed off outside by her tree. It was way too still and quiet for her to be outside- even her house wasn't this quiet. She opened her eyes and found herself in a bedroom. It was not her bedroom. Next to her slept a… computer?

"Good morning!" The cheery voice of a different computer broke the stillness and Vella screamed.

She noticed her voice wasn't quite right… and that's when she noticed she wasn't a girl anymore. He screamed again. The new computer looked at him with an odd look.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" she asked.

He barely registered her words. "Wh- what? Who… who are you? Where am I? Oh, I'm so confused…."

"What are you talking about, Victor?" the computer asked. "Oh, did you have another vivid dream?"

"V-Victor? That's my name?" he asked.

"Yes… Are you sure you're alright?"

Victor took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "I-I think so… B-but… who? Where…?"

The computer murmured something to herself about dreams. "You're in your bedroom, honey. And… well, remember? I'm your mom… but... lately you've been calling me 'computer'…"

Victor hadn't been listening completely, but he did hear something about "computer" and something about "bedroom". "O-okay… Computer."

The computer looked a bit disappointed, but that soon faded and was replaced by her previous cheer. Victor almost screamed for a third time as two mechanical arms picked him up and dragged him across the room. But he couldn't help but scream when a curtain appeared around him, he was stripped of his clothes, and the arms proceeded to bathe him.

After Victor was re-dressed, he was dragged to a kitchen. And so began his wonderful, confusion-filled day.

* * *

Sasha stood uncomfortably as people swarmed her. Her mom had mentioned something about a dress fitting before an older lady had dragged her away. But she just went along with it.

Another lady added yet another garment to the outfit. They'd already gone through 3 dresses- some of them didn't look quite right after they were fitted and others refused to fit at all. Sasha was still getting used to the feeling of wearing a dress- it was something she'd never had the pleasure of experiencing before.

She didn't even try resisting as the lady laced up the corset. It was, after all, something new to experience (although that didn't necessarily mean it was a good experience). The lady finished and began walking around Sasha, inspecting her thoughtfully.

"I think this would look much better if we went all out," she said. "We should do a little test of how the full outfit would look."

The people swarmed the still very uncomfortable Sasha, undoing and redoing what their previous work. The older lady from earlier, who, as Sasha had been told, was named Levina, just stood on the side impatiently. The people stood back and admired their work. The lady stood and looked at Sasha again.

"Something's missing," she said.

The lady, who Sasha later found out was named Isabel, stood on the platform with Sasha and started fussing with her hair. Isabel then took the necklace from around her own neck and gave it to Sasha, whispering something about it coming in handy later.

"There," Isabel said, stepping back. She uncovered a floor-length mirror on the other side of the room and led Sasha to it. "What do you think?"

Sasha's eyes widened at the sight of her own appearance. "I-I… I don't know what to say…"

Isabel frowned. "You don't like it?"

"No, no," Sasha reassured her. "I love it… I look… spectacular."

And she did. Isabel had pulled back Sasha's shoulder-length brown hair and secured it with a sparkly clip. Her dress was a light teal- a different color than she was used to, but it still reminded her of home. The skirt, as she was told, would merge perfectly into the cake (she didn't really know what that meant, but they made it sound like a good thing).

Isabel helped Sasha undress and put on some regular clothes after Levina approved the outfit. Sasha tried to give Isabel her necklace back, but Isabel refused, once again saying something about another time.

"You'll definitely be chosen with that outfit," Isabel said. She said it like it was a good thing, but Sasha couldn't help but notice the touch of sadness in her voice.

"Chosen?" Sasha asked. "What do you mean?"

"Chosen by Mog Chothra," Isabel replied. "You know… the whole Maiden's Feast thing."

"Mog Chothra?" Sasha repeated. Now that she finally had the opportunity to ask questions, she wanted to know all she could about whatever was happening. "Who's that?"

"Not who," Isabel said. "What. Mog Chothra," she sighed, "is… well, one of the latest mogs. They protect our town, but in exchange, we must let them eat a few maidens every 14 years."

Sasha looked extremely appalled at the last statement. "What? You mean you're doing all this in preparation for me to be _eaten_?"

Isabel nodded. "Unfortunately so. Just like preparing a roast for a special occasion."

"Wh- what is so important for us to be protected from?" Sasha asked.

Isabel sat back in confusion. "I honestly don't know. I don't know if anyone knows."

"I- I don't know if I can do this, I _can't_ do this! I didn't know all this meant I was going to be _eaten_!" Sasha said, her eyes still wide.

"Then go," Isabel whispered. "Go now, don't let them find you. There's still time to escape."

"B-but where will I go?"

"Why don't you just go back home? Switch back," Isabel suggested.

Sasha's eyes grew wider, if that was possible. "How do you know about that?"

Isabel smiled. "I have my sources. I know you probably don't want to… that was the whole reason you escaped. But trust me, it's better this way."

Sasha sighed. "Maybe you're right…" She looked at her belt, which held the button that allowed her to switch back. "Maybe I should."


End file.
